[M] Chapter 19 (1/1)

Only The Truth Chapter 19  It is only after three weeks Daehyun and Youngjae began their internships that Hyein finally got used to them not being around her in school. She had been without them for twenty odd years but within the few months that they had got to know one another, it is clear to Hyein that she can never be without the boys anymore. Daehyun and Youngjae constantly upload pictures in their group chat to share every single detail with Hyein and the boys. All of them are very supportive of these two who are working very hard in the prestigious company and they have high hopes for them. Hyein goes to the boys’ apartment whenever she can and vice versa but being busy with their own work, they sometimes go up to almost a week without seeing one another. Zelo and Jongup try their best to be home early but time seems to be constantly chasing after them, causing them to be too tired to even eat sometimes. Even though she hates to admit it, Hyein is somewhat back to being the person that she was before Daehyun and Youngjae walked into her life. She hardly speaks to anyone unless out of utmost necessity, she has her meals by herself and most importantly, she no longer smiles and laughs that much anymore. Hyein hardly ever listens to songs other than those that Youngjae recorded for her but nonetheless, they are barely enough to fill those empty spaces in her heart.  In this eerily quiet and cold library study room, Hyein’s phone vibrates violently out of a sudden and causes her to jump a bit. She mumbles something under her breath and hurriedly fishes for her phone that is under a huge stack of reference books. Seeing the contact image, Hyein smiles and answers the call instantly. “Oppa!” Hyein whispers excitedly into the phone even though she is in a private study room and cannot possibly disturb anyone else. “Hyein-ah! Are you in the library again?” Daehyun’s loud voice boomed right into Hyein’s right ear, making her giggle delightfully. “Yes, I am! How are you?! What are you doing now?!” Hyein flicks her wrist for the time and sees that it is almost 3p.m. “I’m good! I got so busy the moment I stepped into the office this morning and I am just having my lunch right now! I’m so hungry! I’m eating by myself in the pantry and it’s so awkward!” Daehyun whines into the phone and Hyein can only imagine how much he resembles a puppy right now. “Wow, you must be extremely hungry now, oppa! Have loads of delicious food! Drink something warm, ok? The weather is getting really cold nowadays!” Hyein shudders at the thought of how much colder it will get. It is only November but it already seems like they are smack in the middle of freezing winter due to the humidity and wind. “You too, ok?! It’s really cold for the past few days. I know that you like your Americano iced but it’s too cold for it from now on. Drink warm tea, ok?” Daehyun nags back at Hyein and she smirks at him for being the warm and kind Jung Daehyun. “It has been such a long time since I saw your face, Hyein-ah. I miss you so much.” Daehyun pouts as he grumbles into the phone again. Hyein chuckles when she hears loud slurping and crunching sounds from the other end. “I miss you too, oppa. I miss everyone so much.” Hyein sighs sadly. It has been more than two days since she had a short text exchange with Youngjae and three days since she saw Zelo and the other boys. “Hyein-ah, know that we are always with you, ok? I miss all the times where we were so carefree and could see one another almost everyday. It has been days since I last saw Yoo Youngjae even though we work in the same company. It is super huge here and until now, we could only have lunch together twice.” “Oppa, I know that you are always thinking of me. Don’t worry about me, ok? I understand that work and networking are very important to you and Youngjae at this point of time. Your future is at stake here. The beginning is always the hardest. Once everything settles, we will meet up and have loads of delicious food together, ok?” Despite being in the same company, Daehyun and Youngjae are in different departments and their social networking circles are very different though they intersect infrequently. They try to find opportunities for interactions with each other during working hours but it is easier said than done. There were a lot of times where Daehyun and Youngjae saw each other from afar and all they could do was exchange a really brief greeting before carrying on with whatever they were doing. “Of course, Hyein-ah! We must eat a lot the next we see each other, ok?! I’m finishing up my food now. I have to go back to the office to prepare for an important meeting.” “Ok, oppa. Thank you so much for calling me! Oppa, hwaiting!!” Hyein cheers for Daehyun and he chuckles while drinking water. “You too, Hyein-ah. I’ll text or call you soon! Hyeinnie, jjang!!” Daehyun yells into the phone and he hangs up with a huge smile on his face. Hearing the line go dead, Hyein cannot help but feel the emptiness swallowing her up all over again. Sometimes this emptiness is bearable, but sometimes it is outright suffocating and she has to literally and physically inhale and exhale deeply to calm herself. This time round, the emptiness shakes her up a little but overall, she is fine. After two seconds of deliberation, Hyein goes into the messenger app in her phone and starts to type a text to Youngjae. He did not reply to two of Hyein’s previous texts but seeing that he read it was enough for her. “Youngjae-oppa~ How are you today? I just got off the phone with Daehyunnie-oppa. The weather has gotten really cold nowadays and I hope that you are wearing clothes that are warm enough for you. You get cold easily so please have your coat with you wherever you go. Don’t catch a cold. Have your meals regularly too! Yoo Youngjae, hwaiting!”  Out of habit, Hyein rereads her text a few times for any typos and she presses the “send” button. She really wanted to include words like “I miss you” and “Hope to see you soon” but thinking that it may burden Youngjae to see texts like this, she decided against using them. Another two hours of research work later, Hyein’s phone vibrates again and there is a little voice inside her that keeps chanting “Youngjae, Youngjae, Youngjae…”. Hyein clears away some books to get to her phone. She smiles a little when she sees the contact image of this handsome man. “Oppa!” Hyein tries to hide the tiny disappointment as much as possible by answering her phone all the more cheerfully. “Do you want to have dinner together? Junhongie says that he can make it for dinner!” Himchan goes without greeting Hyein at all as he screams excitedly into the phone. “Oh, great! Where and what time?” Hyein lights up like a Christmas tree at Himchan’s suggestion. She really misses Himchan and Zelo a lot.  “What time can you leave? Let’s have spicy beef soup with noodles! I know of a place that serves them with free makgeoli! It is quite impossible for anyone to get drunk with just a bowl of it.” Himchan and Hyein both chuckle at the same time as they recall Zelo’s drunkard incident.  “Ok, oppa! Let’s eat that! I can finish up now and then meet you guys in an hour’s time, at the latest. Traffic should be fine.” Hyein is suddenly very glad that she was very productive for the past few hours to allow herself to leave school earlier today. She really loathes peak hour traffic in Seoul and hopes to be on the road soon because the roads will start to be congested in about twenty minutes’ time.  “Ok! Let’s meet at 6p.m.! I’ll text you the exact address of the place. I’ll bring maknae along. See you in a while, Hyein-ah!” Himchan coolly hangs up and a few seconds later, Hyein receives a text with the address of said restaurant.  Hyein arrives at the restaurant ten minutes before 6.p.m. and patiently, she waits for Himchan and Zelo. A gust of wind blows and Hyein shivers a little despite wearing a thick hoodie and a coat with padding. The temperature goes into the single digits when the sun is down and very soon, everyone will need the whole winter gear complete with beanies and gloves for this weather. “GUESS WHO I AM?!” Hyein jumps a little when suddenly her vision goes black. She giggles and turns around and before she knows it, she is lifted off the ground by a pair of strong arms. “WAAAAAA!!!! NOONA!!!!” “JUNHONG-AH!! AHHHHHH!!” Despite receiving glances from passersby, Hyein and Zelo scream their hearts out the moment they lay their eyes on each other. Both of them are so happy that they finally get to have some time together, no matter how short that is. “HMPH! What about me, Hyein-ah?!” Himchan stamps his left foot and pretends to be angry. Hyein and Zelo exchange a knowing look and together, they step forward and lift Himchan off the ground. “AHHHHH!!! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!!” Himchan yells at his dongsaengs and he does not give a shit that people are outright staring at them already. “Oppa!  I missed you!!” Hyein uses an aegyo-ish voice and Himchan turns into a pile of melted butter immediately.  “Me too, Hyein-ah!!! Now, put me down!!” Himchan struggles to get out of Zelo and Hyein’s strong hold on him and obediently, the two younger ones put him back onto the ground.  “It’s freezing out here! Let’s get inside!” Himchan grabs Hyein and Zelo each with one hand and he drags them in before they catch a cold.  Inside the restaurant, they are brought to a corner table and they have to remove their shoes to take their seats on the floor. Himchan orders for them right away while Zelo clings onto Hyein and he leaves absolutely no space in between them as they settle at their table.  “Junhong-ah, why are you not wearing a padded coat? 이게 안돼!” Hyein frowns at Zelo like a worried mother and pokes his thin hoodie judgmentally. She holds his cold hands in hers and rubs them together to warm them up.  “Noona, I’m fine. It’s not cold enough for me to wear padded coats yet. I’ll wear them once it gets below five degrees during the day.” Zelo says cutely and all Hyein wants to do is squish his cheeks together but she stops herself from being sidetracked.  “What? Junhong-ah!” Hyein frowns comically and shakes her head vehemently. Himchan chuckles, admiring this heartwarming scene in front of him.  “Junhongie is fine with cold weather, Hyein-ah. He is a very healthy teenager, unlike us who are in our twenties. I am halfway to fifty already.” Himchan sighs in a resigned manner, making the younger ones laugh.  “Oppa, you are still young! Having a young mind in the most important!” The way Hyein blinks her eyes as she speaks is almost identical to Zelo. It seems like their habits are really rubbing off on one another as time goes by.  Once their food arrives, they gobble everything up while talking about what they had been up to for the past few days and weeks. Zelo has the most to tell with everything that happened and is still going on in school. It really makes Hyein very happy to see Zelo enjoy school so much at this age. Hyein has not much to tell as her days are pretty much the same over and over. Soon, the conversation changes to be about those who are not here with them right now.  “Daehyun-hyung has been really busy. We sometimes don’t see each other for days even though we live under the same roof. He would be out already when I got out of bed and he wouldn’t be back when I go to bed. We had to leave notes for each other on the refrigerator.”  Zelo purses his lips a little dejectedly. He really misses the liveliness that Daehyun brings to the house. Sometimes Zelo would try to stay up a little to at least have a few words with Daehyun but he always ended up falling asleep due to his own tiredness.  “I really hope that we can spend some time together soon. Winter holiday is only two weeks long but I hope that we can meet up at least once.” Zelo clasps both hands together like he is making a wish to a genie.  “I hope so too, maknae-ah.” Himchan reaches for Zelo’s head across the table and ruffles his hair adoringly.  “Me too.” Hyein says in a small voice, like she does not mean for anyone to hear her.  “Hyein-ah, it’s ok to say that you miss us.” Himchan knows exactly how Hyein thinks of  herself as a burden to the six of them.  “I do. I do miss you guys a lot.” Hyein sighs hugely and she leans into Zelo more, hoping to get some comfort from her favourite maknae in the world.  “Have you heard from Youngjae?” Himchan asks, as he is curious about how this chubby boy is doing in his work.  “I spoke with him on the phone a week ago. He sounded tired but he is enjoying his work very much.” Hyein cannot help but smile as she thinks about the phone call. She can be this happy just by thinking about hearing his voice.  Himchan and Zelo do not miss out the fact that it has been quite some time since Hyein and Youngjae got in touch with each other. Both of them know that Hyein is the closest with Youngjae and she must be having a very hard time going through every single moment of her life without her best friend with her.  “I’m fine. Please don’t look at me like this.” Hyein smiles a little and looks away from Zelo and Himchan. She takes another huge mouthful of the piping hot spicy beef soup with noodles.  “You’ll always have us, noona.” Zelo whispers sweetly into Hyein’s ears, melting her to the core. Himchan shudders animatedly at Zelo’s antics, making the maknae and Hyein chuckle.  “Hyung, I learnt this from you.” Zelo says to Himchan sassily while wriggling his eyebrows, almost like how Youngjae would have spoken to Himchan.  “Let’s have hotpot in their apartment on Christmas Eve! We always gather together on 24th December. Come hell or high water, I will make sure that all seven of us will be there.” Himchan says determinedly, much to Zelo and Hyein’s excitement.  “Ok! Hyung, I want loads of ice-cream!” Zelo kicks his legs as he demands for the sweet treats and he accidentally kicks Himchan due to his long legs.  “We will all be fucking cold turkeys by then! No ice-creams!” Himchan folds his arm, rejecting Zelo’s proposal.  “Noona, you’ll get them for me, right?!” Zelo changes his target the moment he is faced with rejection. Himchan scoffs at this giant maknae’s wit.  “Hyein-ah, do not spoil him.” Himchan warns Hyein, leaving her in a funny little dilemma.  “I want loads of hanwoo! Korean beef are the best!!” Hyein changes the topic of this conversation entirely, making both Himchan and Zelo laugh at their sister’s talent in distractions.  “Fine, fine… As long as you promise me not to ask Yonggukkie to choose what we are going to eat, I’m fine with anything. If it’s up to Yongguk, we will end up not eating anything at all and only play basketball games on our phones for the whole day.” Himchan rolls his eyes and the younger ones laugh and nod in agreement.  Himchan, Hyein and Zelo continue to talk about their highly anticipated gathering on Christmas Eve and they move themselves to a dainty coffeeshop to chat some more after their dinner. It feels really nice for the three of them to gather together after such a considerable amount of time.  “I hope that Yoo Youngjae is doing well now. I hope that Yonggukkie-oppa, Daehyunnie-oppa and Jonguppie are well too.” Hyein whispers to herself as she drives home. Christmas Eve cannot come sooner for Hyein.  On the other hand, Youngjae is still in the office even though it is way past office hours. Most of his colleagues had left the office already but Youngjae still has tonnes of work to do. Being one of the five interns in his department, it means that he has to do some of the most menial and tedious work. Always eager to learn, Youngjae does not complain at all and does his work diligently. He believes that there are constantly things to learn in everything that he does.  “Ten minutes. Just ten minutes.” Youngjae lets out a huge sigh and he rubs his eyes tiredly. He has been working nonstop since he had a quick lunch in the afternoon and his eyes are bloodshot now from insufficient rest.  Slowly, Youngjae gets up from his seat with his personal mug and he heads to the pantry. He makes himself a cup of hot coffee and gets back to his cubicle. He then remembers that he had not seen his phone for the entire day. He tidies up his desk a little by sorting out the rubbish and under a pile of sample photographs, he sees his phone.  Youngjae presses the home button on his phone and amongst all of the notifications, there are a few texts. He swipes the screen and goes on to read the messages. In the group chat, Himchan uploaded some photos that he took with Hyein and Zelo. Youngjae presses on the first photo and he smiles when he sees Hyein’s happy face. He zooms in into Hyein and he frowns a little when he sees that she seems to have lost weight. Even so, she looks so contented to be with Himchan and Zelo.  Exiting the group chat, Youngjae realises that he still has an unread message and he squeals when he sees that it is a message from Hyein. He reads her encouraging text for at least five times before he replies. “I saw the pictures that Himchan-hyung took with you and Junhongie. Looks like you guys had loads of fun! You should wear proper winter clothes too! And you seemed to have lost weight. What happened to your face? You should have your meals regularly too! Eating isn’t just simply putting food in your mouth. Have nutritious food! Hyein-ah, hwaiting!”  Youngjae presses the send button without hesitation and he smiles when he sees that the text had been successfully sent. With a small sigh, Youngjae locks his phone and puts it back on his desk. He brings up his cup of hot coffee and stares into blank space, thinking about something that has been lingering in his mind for the past few weeks.  Whenever Youngjae has just a few seconds to himself, Hyein would immediately pop up in his head. He would wonder where she is, what she is doing, had she eaten, is she sad or happy right now, is she getting enough sleep, etc. If Youngjae was not at work, he would zone out and think about Hyein. He misses her tremendously and wonders if she misses him too.  Ever since the boys got to know Hyein too, they would tease him about her whenever she is not around. It is painfully obvious to everyone that Youngjae is hopelessly crazy about Hyein but for some reason, he does not make the first move. He tells himself that he would use this time away from Hyein to reorganize his feelings and thoughts about Hyein. Putting down his cup of coffee, Youngjae makes a decision that he hopes is right for both him and Hyein.